Prosecution Insights
Last updated: September 17, 2026
Application No. 18/712,024

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING A REMAINING QUANTITY OF AN OBJECT ACCOMMODATED IN A CONTAINER, ELECTRONIC DEVICE, AND STORAGE MEDIUM

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
May 21, 2024
Priority
Mar 16, 2023 — CN 202310259442.7 +1 more
Examiner
WAIT, CHRISTOPHER
Art Unit
2683
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Petkit Network Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1m
Est. Remaining
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allowance Rate
318 granted / 415 resolved
+14.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +14% lift
Without
With
+13.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
9 currently pending
Career history
420
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
10.7%
-29.3% vs TC avg
§103
45.2%
+5.2% vs TC avg
§102
23.8%
-16.2% vs TC avg
§112
17.1%
-22.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 415 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Claim 8 is canceled. Claim 9-10 are currently amended. Claims 11-20 are new. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/21/24 & 4/1/26 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 1, 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by CN 115063473 to Chen et al. Regarding claim 1. Chen discloses a method for detecting remaining quantity of an object accommodated in a container (“generating the height of the target object. The method can be based on the comparison result between the target position information corresponding to the target object edge in the target container image under the first viewing angle and the reference scale, generating the height of the target object”, Abstract, Fig. 5d depicts waste can interior where height is directly corelated with remaining quantity of an object), comprising: acquiring a to-be-detected container image of a to-be-detected container (“perspective conversion module 606 further comprises: size scaling unit, for according to the first position information and the preset perspective transformation matrix to be detected container image for perspective conversion processing, obtaining the container image to be detected after perspective transformation processing”, paragraph 144); calculating line information in the to-be-detected container image to generate a target object line image (“the first determining module 604 comprises: an edge detection unit for performing image segmentation processing to the container image to be detected to obtain an image in the container; linear detection processing the image in the container, generating linear detection result of the image in the container”, paragraph 147); calculating line length information in the target object line image (“generating linear detection result of the image in the container; clustering the linear detection result to obtain the line segment clustering result, determining the area of the target object according to the line segment clustering result; performing edge detection to the area of the target object, determining the second position information”, paragraph 147); and determining a remaining quantity of the object accommodated in the to-be-detected container according to line length information in the target object line image (“The height generating module 610 is further configured to: according to the comparison result between the target position information and the plurality of reference scales in the second standard image, generating the height of the target object”, paragraph 145). Regarding claim 9. Claim 9 is rejected for the same reasons and rational as provided above for claim 1. Regarding claim 10. Claim 10 is rejected for the same reasons and rational as provided above for claim 1. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 2-7, 11-21 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US PG Pub 2020/0401832 to Peng discloses a computer-implemented method and system for selecting one or more regions of interest (ROIs) in an image. The method comprises: identifying one or more objects of interest that have been segmented from the image; identifying predefined landmarks of the objects; determining reference morphometrics pertaining to the objects by performing morphometrics on the objects by reference to the landmarks; selecting one or more ROIs from the objects according to the reference morphometrics, comprises identifying the location of the ROIs relative to the reference morphometrics; and outputting the selected one or more ROIs. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER D. WAIT, Esq. whose telephone number is (571)270-5976. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9:30- 6:00. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abderrahim Merouan can be reached at 571 270-5254. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. CHRISTOPHER D. WAIT, Esq. Primary Examiner Art Unit 2683 /CHRISTOPHER WAIT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

May 21, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 26, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (+13.5%)
2y 5m (~1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 415 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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